Even that would involve filling the hull up to the lower deckwith electrolyte and, to balance the pressure, probably flooding the bottom part of the dry dock with Thames water.
His relatively smooth progress was jolted in the final set when he made a mad dash to retrieve a half-volley and hit the deck just after reaching the ball with a backhand, ending up sprawled on the rubberised hardcourt.
Up in the top deck, clusters of fans swayed and sang along with anthems like "Beer in Mexico" and "Living in Fast Forward, " though it was almost impossible to focus on the tiny singer onstage whose image was multiplied on video screens seven stories tall.
One striking sequence shows Endurance buried up to her deck in ice, a tangle of rigging and splintered timbers, every surface thickly covered with hoar-frost.